Balaenoptera

Balaenoptera is a genus of rorqual baleen whales containing eight living species, all but two of the extant species in the rorqual family, including the blue whale, fin whale, sei whale, Bryde's whale, Omura's whale, Rice's whale and the two minke whale species. The genus is known from the fossil record from the Neogene through the Quaternary, spanning roughly 13.65 million years to the present, and its species are found in every major ocean basin in both hemispheres. Genetic studies have shown the humpback and gray whales are phylogenetically nested within Balaenoptera despite being classified in separate genera, making the group as currently defined polyphyletic.